Rape and the media: your responses

Last week, Julie Bindel gave a snapshot of the rape cases that were reported around the country in one week. We asked readers whether rape cases were appropriately reported in the British press and if they were shocked that only 6.5% of reported rapes end in a conviction. Here are some of your answers.

I am always horrified at the low number of rape convictions, but more so at how hard they are to obtain. There have been improvements in the way the police treat women, but not in the courts, and the cross-examination of the adversarial system appears almost intolerable. 6% is the conviction rate for reported rapes, but so many go unreported that it is time to look at the way cases are tried. Helen TaylorSapcote, Leicestershire, via email

In France, only cases where investigation by the presiding magistrate reveals significant evidence that points to a high probability of prosecution will be put forward to the court. Hence the 25% conviction rate. The great majority of cases go no further than the investigative phase.

Writing as someone who was falsely accused of rape in the UK by a disturbed and evil scorned woman that I'd known for five years and never even kissed or touched, I can only applaud French scepticism.

Let's have another article, pointing out that hard evidence is required for a rape conviction: certainty, not probability, nor likelihood, nor possibility. Perhaps that is the real message that women (and men) need to carry with them into situations where they find themselves alone in private with potentially predatory males.Chris H, via email

Although I am only 27 and have very few close friends I still know of four people who have been the victims of rape - and these are just the ones who I had a close enough relationship with for them to tell me. I think sexual assault is commonplace and the judicial system is fundamentally flawed. It doesn't give the victims much faith in the system and consequently they feel like it would be pointless to report the assault.

If the media reported every rape, murder or missing child then it would send people into a panic. But I also think that might be necessary to bring about the drastic changes that need to be made to change the flawed and sexist system. Stephanie Scaife, via email

Of course rape is not appropriately reported. Most attacks are carried out by a person known to the victim but the reporting of such a trend seems too uncomfortable for some to bear. Much too is made of cases involving drink on the part of the victim, when actually the biggest hurdle facing many victims is not alcohol, but the attitudes of the police officers and the disdain with which they treat evidence. I write from experience.

Of course as soon as you speak out about such attitudes you're immediately branded a raving feminist lunatic. Rape is never about sex, but power, and it's palatable to believe all rapists are weirdos, loners or in a teen gang, when the truth is most resemble the nice guy you sat next to on the train.Name and address withheld

Proving rape and sexual assault is difficult because many women try to minimise injuries by limiting the violence and complying. Some men can intimidate and threaten to ensure compliance without needing to inflict the injuries that would prove lack of consent.

The man in the street is the answer - to what extent do men challenge each other? Set codes of conduct? Have shared ethics ? In the above imbalance-of-power-leading-to-compliance the male's version of the event would be great consensual sex - to what extent would his version by challenged by his peers? Or would they all congratulate him?Gaia2

I know three victims of rape. One stranger, one date rape and one who was raped by her flatmate. I also know a victim of attempted rape, who didn't press charges as the police basically told her they were too busy to deal with something that was her own fault. The only one of these women who saw her rapist convicted was the one who was raped by a stranger, as the DNA matched when he was later arrested for murder. What's the point in going to the police if your flatmate rapes you? It's your word against his and they won't bring a case.Bonjour

Allow previous convictions to be part of the prosecution case. A guilty person not convicted is just as much a miscarriage of justice as an innocent person being convicted. I think at the moment we are disproportionally concerned with the latter because for some reason victims are not seen as being entitled to justice; only the accused.Peterw